


Happy Birthday, Duchess Croft

by CaptainOfTheKryptonSpacemarines



Series: S.S. Endurance Week 2019 [1]
Category: Tomb Raider & Related Fandoms, Tomb Raider (Video Games)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Nobility, Prince Harry has a cameo, Romance, S.S. Endurance Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-29 06:38:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17802911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainOfTheKryptonSpacemarines/pseuds/CaptainOfTheKryptonSpacemarines
Summary: Sam is dragged by her father to the Birthday Party of Her Grace, The Duchess of Mercia





	Happy Birthday, Duchess Croft

“Seriously-” Sam raised her voice and her father’s gave away that he was preparing himself to hear his daughter complain for the nth time in the evening “Who is this guy? That’s fucking Prince Harry right there!”

“ _Samantha, behave yourself!_ ” His voice boomed in Japanese and a few heads turned their way made them both lower their heads in shame, but he continued in a low and contained tone that made him more menacing than if he was shouting his head off as he guided them to a secluded corner of the room“ _Such foul language is not only improper for this sort of place; it also brings shame upon us all. And given you didn’t have it in you to read the invitation, I must remind you it’s not a man, and it’s a woman and not just any woman: A Duchess. The Duchess that bears the oldest title in the United Kingdom! Her family helped unite England and later on forged the United Kingdom and many of its monumental victories_ ”

“ _Yeah, whatever-_ ” Sam retorted in a sneer-like tone “ _All you care about is that she’s loaded and you need investors_ ”

“ _And all you care about is drinking and whoring yourself out!_ ” Her father’s response was crude but not uncommon to hear and three abortions have made Sam feel he is kind of right “ _You will behave and do your part in the family business or you can kiss all your credit cards goodbye_ ”

“ _Ok, chill-_ ” Sam raised her hands and tried to pacify her father before he made a scandal “ _Look, let’s make a deal: I’m just going to mingle around and you’ll do business and we can ignore each other until this is over._ ”

“ _You will behave-_ ” Her father started listing with his fingers in a menacing tone that made chills crawl Sam’s spine “ _You will use all those manners that I paid that boarding school to teach you and you will not embarrass the family_ ”

“ _I will not embarrass you and my uncle-_ ” Sam deadpanned, not letting her amusement at her father’s belief him and his brother was all the family that mattered show “ _I’ll just smile and wave_ ”

“ _And you will laugh at whatever jokes they share, no matter how bad they are_ ” Her father stared her down over this point and Sam simply nodded, remembering the last time she hadn’t and the hell she caught.

Suddenly the room went quiet and everyone started to look towards a big door that reached all the way to the ceiling and seemed to exist for the sole purpose of looking imposing and somewhat intimidating. Sam saw Prince Harry and his wife made their way towards the door and stand beside it and Sam couldn’t believe that was how huge this woman was in socialite terms and yet she never even heard of her.

An old, wrinkly man that somehow still worked in this place when he should be living in a retirement home opened the door and surprised Sam with a loud voice that had all the imposingness of a lion’s roar “The Most High, Noble and Potent Princess Her Grace Lara Croft, Duchess of Mercia”

He moved aside slowly and behind him stood what had to be the most beautiful woman Sam had ever seen in her life. Sam tried not to stare with her mouth open as she went up and said her greetings, starting with Prince Harry, but she was simply indescribable and Sam lamented she had skipped all those mandatory readings, because maybe if she had read all those books she would have a clue of what to say or how to even commit the Duchess to memory.

She was tall, at the very least taller than Sam in heels, had brown eyes and looked dashing in her military uniform. She had the appearance of someone proud and her posture was that of someone mighty. Every last bit of her was proper and imposing and the way she carried herself was how Sam pictured the Queen had carried herself in her days of youth.

As she went around the room doing her rounds of merry meetings and said ‘Thank you for coming’ so naturally it almost didn’t seem rehearsed, Sam couldn’t help but stare and kept her eyes glued to the Duchess. The closer she got to them, the more she could appreciate the features and became more and more entranced with the beauty of this woman.

Sam had always pictured nobility as sad, old, stuffy people clinging to a past that lived only in dusty, old books but this Lara woman was every bit the opposite of that: She was regal in her demeanor, her smile was kind but precise and her eyes had to be the most expressive set of mahogany diamonds ever to exist and she was so young and lively that Sam couldn’t help but think that they could’ve been friends had Sam lived a more refined life that would’ve made her worthy of hanging out with a woman such as this.

The Duchess had every bit of seriousness that Sam lacked and Sam could bet she’d never known what a hangover was, or what drugs did to you, or what it was like to have cops bust a party you were in because it was 5 am and it was still going as loud as if it was at 10 pm of the previous day.

All that drama that she hadd endured in her life was absent in this woman that was easily her age and she felt a twinge of guilt at the fact that her father had been right all these years: Not all girls got up to the stuff Sam had and not all girls were as wild and reckless as she still was.

Sam had been so caught in admiring this woman that she didn’t noticed she was approaching them next and it took a rather forceful nudge from her father to get Sam out of her reverie.

“Mr. Nishimura-” The Duchess greeted and Sam was head over heels with this woman’s accent “A pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh”

“Your Grace-” Her father bowed slightly in a courteous manner that was halfway to being the Japanese reverence to the Emperor “It is a true honor to be in your birthday party.”

“And it is a privilege to be in your company-” The Duchess’ gaze moved from her father to Sam and gave her a through once over that was subtle yet quite interesting given the woman looked one moment too long at her cleavage in a way that was anything but disapproving of the rather low cut in her dress “Mrs. Nishimura”

“I’m not my mom-” Sam forgot her etiquette and laughed loudly before catching herself and blushing furiously, clarifying shyly “I’m Samantha, the daughter, Milady-I mean, Your Grace”

“My deepest apologies, Ms. Nishimura” The Duchess looked nervous for a second there and Sam really didn’t blame the Duchess for mistaking her for a trophy wife “I am so deeply sorry, I just assumed the passing of the years had never heard of you”

“I-uh-” Sam was at a blank as to what to do next and an awkward silence fell between them that was quickly filled by Sam’s father starting to talk business and the Duchess leaving with a courteous ‘ _Let us discuss such matters after dinner_ ’

Sam was, for the first time in her life, speechless. Being so close to her had given her an eyeful of this woman’s beauty that simply would not leave her mind. The back of her eyelids seemed to have been burned with the image of the Duchess and her mind was full of the delicate sound of her voice and the loveliness of her accent. Every last bit of her was as charming as she was proper and the embodiment of every last choice Sam hadn’t made, reminding Sam of all the complexes and guilt she still had to deal with in therapy and the AA meetings she went to.

The evening by without a hitch and it all got scrambled in Sam’s mind into a big, fuzzy mess of which Sam could only recall how it was really nice to be served full portions of both food and chocolate cake. That there were toasts and that Sam made sure to just have that one flute of champagne that had been offered to her when Prince Harry opened the round of congratulations with a speech of which Sam only caught the part that mentioned they were old friends. That there had been dancing and her father danced with the Duchess right after Prince Harry had. That the Duchess was really pretty and looked awesome and was likely to be uninterested in whatever they were discussing but still went through with it all, glancing at Sam out of the corner of her eye a couple of times.

The night went by and Sam sat there while her father talked and Sam didn’t know what to do with the fact nobody had come up to talk her up when usually the old men would hit on her like they were drunk frat boys. Maybe it was that most people had the etiquette of nobles or that Sam was almost thirty, but either way it was a kind of bliss not to have to deal with any of that.

It got late, the Prince and his wife left and after that everyone started their rounds of goodbyes and her father came back and sat with Sam in an awkward silence while he waited for something to happen. He kept glancing at the Duchess and passing time by looking at the painting on the walls.

It had to be that part of the night where you weren’t sure if it was really late or really early when the Duchess came to them, the last ones in the room and sat down, looking at Sam’s father with the authority of the Queen of England rather than just one of her nobles.

“So, Mr. Nishimura, allow me to apologize for keeping you waiting.” The Duchess sat in front of her father and Sam couldn’t help but think that the way she sat was as if she dominated that chair and through it, she ruled over everything and everyone “I know your time is valuable but this kind of events demand me to be elsewhere”

“I understand perfectly, Your Grace-” Sam’s father sat straight in his chair and actually looked nervous, which impressed Sam “This is after all your birthday party, we’re your guests and for the most part the deal is set”

“Quite so-” The Duchess spoke up dryly and stole a glance of Sam as she accommodated herself on the chair and made herself comfortable “Which makes me have to ask why were you so adamant about being here when you and Atlas had sorted things out between yourselves over the phone. I know you to be a very direct business man, Mr. Nishimura and I know you don’t entertain social events out of your kind heart and pleasure”

“Would you believe me if I told you I wanted to see Prince Harry in person?” Sam’s dad joked and that gave it away. There was more to this than met the eye; it had to be because her dad never joked. Ever. He found it low and childish.

“I would were you someone else but you are not-”The Duchess spoke dryly with a tone that gave away she was onto something “What it you’re actually here for?”

“A test of sorts-” Sam could tell her father was picking his words carefully “As part of our business arrangement, we will open offices here and my daughter will handle the creative aspect of them”

Sam looked at her father puzzled for a moment until she got what he meant by that and sighed annoyed ‘In name only. So I can get her off my back’

“And you were here to see if she could behave?” The Duchess asked nonchalantly and Sam looked away, embarrassed her reputation preceded her.

“Amongst other things-” Her father nodded and kept what was next short and simple as he stood up “There are rumors you see, and the fact you keep staring at my daughter has told me enough. Good morning”

“Out” The Duchess glared daggers at her father as she spoke with barely contained wrath while Sam sat petrified where she was “Now”

Sam’s father left without another word and the clenched fists of the Duchess and the sight of her, ready to beat him into the next life, was enough to make Sam fall completely for this woman who feared not what…who Sam herself had never been able to confront.

A good five minutes passed in which Sam sat where she was, staring at a fuming woman that was simply beautiful in her anger, before she cleared her throat and said mutely.

“He wants to arrange a marriage” Sam said half-jokingly, half-serious because she knew her father was very capable of such things “He doesn’t judge, trust me. Not if he can get something out of it”

The Duchess turned slowly and the face she had when she looked at Sam was a mix of confusion yet clear understanding that managed to leave Sam breathless.

“Would he do such a thing?” The Duchess asked and Sam simply nodded.

“If you said yes and paid a dowry in investments and stuff like that, definitely” Sam said a bit nonchalant but still not entirely sure if her father in fact would do such a thing “Hell, he’d sell you my mom for the right price”

“I am so sorry you have to deal with such a man” The Duchess said, closing the distance between them in two strides of her long legs that Sam was almost certain must look like they go on for miles in a bikini, and knelt before Sam “And I am dreadfully sorry about that mistake I did when we were first introduced”

“It’s nothing, Your Grace, I-” Sam was interrupted by the Duchess grabbing her hand firmly but gently but derailing her thoughts all the same.

“Lara, please” The Duchess-Lara smiled gently and almost shyly as she spoke “It’s just these days you truly don’t know. Especially with men like these”

“I understand perfectly” Sam retorted, meaning her words and fighting not to get lost in the marvelous eyes of this woman that were so lively and beautiful that Sam could not understand how was it possible for them to exist. Sam decided on trying to change the topic for both their sakes “How was the party? Looked like a blast from my side”

“I am not a party person but my position demands them-” Lara mulled over the next words for a bit and bit her lip before bringing herself to say “However I did got to meet you, which is a true gift”

“May I add to it?” Sam asked and didn’t wait for an answer because damn this woman and her gorgeous face that melt Sam to a puddle. She leaned in and gently pressed her lips against Lara’s and it was every last bit as sweet as it is in fairy tales of princes and princess.

Sam pulled away after an eternity neither of them knew how long had lasted and simply said as she blushed profusely, a shy smile spreading across her face “Happy Birthday, Duchess Croft”


End file.
